The present invention relates to a dispensing/collection system with an improved mopping assembly having drainage channels which facilitate drainage of any absorbed liquid and debris from the mop assembly during a wringing procedure.
While there are currently available a number of cleaning systems which facilitate cleaning of a surface, none of the available systems are directed at providing a cleaning system which facilitates removal of substantially all of the absorbed liquids in the debris from the mop head as well as removal of a desired amount of the applied liquid from the surface to be cleaned. Moreover, none of the currently available systems are designed to channel the absorbed liquid and debris from the cleaning pad during a wringing procedure.
In particular, many of the prior art cleaning systems utilize a single fluid or solution which serves both as the cleaning fluid as well as the rinsing fluid. Accordingly, over a relatively short period of time, the cleaning pad, once rinsed in the single fluid or solution, has a tendency to reabsorb some of the removed dirt, grease, wax, oil, and other debris, from in the single cleaning fluid or solution, and redeposits of the removed dirt, grease, wax, oil, and other debris back onto the surface to be cleaned. In addition, it is often difficult for an operator to determine how many wash/rinse cycles of the cleaning pad can occur before the single fluid or solution is discarded and replaced with the new cleaning solution.
A further problem with prior art cleaning systems is that the wringing mechanism is not capable of receiving a separate supply of rinsing solution to rinse the cleaning pad and the wringing mechanism also does not facilitate regulation of the wringing pressure, applied to the mop head, to allow control of the amount of liquid squeezed from or reabsorbed by the cleaning pad 2 upon release of the wringing mechanism-this liquid may thereafter be applied to the surface to be cleaned.
Another associated problem is the fact that it is also difficult for an operator to control the amount of moisture being left on the surface to be cleaned, following mopping of the surface with the cleaning pad, due to the erratic pressures applied by various operators while utilizing the wringing mechanism. It is to be appreciated that the amount of moisture remaining of the surface to be cleaned may create a safety concern, especially on a floor or surface which become slippery when wet.
Due to the above noted as well as other associated factors, it is difficult for an operator to clean any desired floor, surface, room, area, etc. in a uniform manner. In particular, depending on the specific operator using the cleaning equipment, various degrees of moisture can be applied or removed from the surface to be cleaned and varying amounts of removed dirt, oil, grease and/or other debris can be removed from the surface to be cleaned during a cleaning process.
Lastly, most conventional mops, sponges, rags, etc., are designed to maximize absorption of fluid, liquid and debris but are not designed to release the absorbed fluid, liquid and other debris during a wringing or cleaning process.
Due to the above noted drawbacks associated with the prior art mopping systems, wringing systems, and/or cleaning systems, the surface to be cleaned is generally re-contaminated, after only one or a couple of rinse cycles of the cleaning pad because the same source of fluid is used both to supply the cleaning fluid to the surface to be cleaned as well as to remove the dirt, grease, wax, oils and other debris from the surface to be cleaned.
Wherefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning/dispensing system which overcomes the above noted drawbacks of the prior art systems.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a mop head which comprises both a non-absorbent material as well as an absorbent material and is provided with a plurality of drainage channels which facilitate drainage of any absorbed liquid and debris from the absorbent material.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a versatile dispensing/cleaning system which facilitates dispensing of a desired cleaning solution to the mop head, during a wringing process, and also facilitates collection of the liquid and debris, wrung from the mop head during the wringing process, in a collection container to facilitate re-use of the collected liquid.
Yet another object of the present invention is to filter the liquid, squeezed from the cleaning pad during the wringing process, prior to collecting the same in the collection container, to facilitate recycling and reuse of the squeezed and collected liquid.
A still further object of the present invention is to rigidly support the absorbent material, via a support structure of the mopping assembly, to facilitate application of a desired contact pressure of the absorbent material, against the surface to be cleaned, as the absorbent material engages with the surface to be cleaned to maximize the cleaning thereof.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a dispensing/cleansing system which is relatively compact and can be readily utilized by a single operator.
Another object of the invention is to provide two separate containers, a first container for housing a cleaning solution and a second container for housing liquid and debris removed from the surface to be cleaned separately from the cleaning solution to minimize, as much as possible, re-contamination of the surface being cleaned.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism for controlling a flow rate of the cleaning solution supplied to the wringing mechanism, during the rinse procedure, to more effectively remove dirt, grease, oil, wax and other debris from the cleaning pad during the wringing procedure.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism for filtering of the liquid, collected during the wringing process of the mop head, to adequately clean that liquid and facilitate reuse of the collected liquid for further cleaning of the surface to be cleaned or rinsing of the cleaning pad during the rinse procedure.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a pressure control device, for the wringing mechanism, so that the amount of wringing pressure applied to the cleaning pad by an operator, during the wringing process, can be precisely controlled, each time the cleaning pad is wrung, and thereby facilitate improved control of the amount of moisture reapplied to the surface to be cleaned and result in a more uniform cleaning of the surface being cleaned.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism for controlling the entrance location where the cleaning fluid is applied to the cleaning pad, during the wringing procedure, to facilitate maximum cleaning of the cleaning pad during the wringing process.
A further object of the present invention is to design an improved cleaning pad which has an arrangement such that the absorbent material and nonabsorbent materials are combined with one another to define a plurality of elongate drainage channels which facilitate drainage of any absorbed liquid and debris from the cleaning pad during the wringing process.
Another object of the present invention is to incorporate desired polymers and prepolymers in the cleaning pad which are specifically design to absorb a maximum amount of liquid from the surface to be cleaned and to readily release this absorbed liquid once a sufficient pressure is applied to the cleaning pad, during the wringing procedure, and thereby facilitate more precise control over the amount of moisture being re-applied and/or removed from the surface being cleaned.
Still another object of the present invention is designed a cleaning pad which has a desired exterior surface texture to facilitate applying a desired scrubbing action to the surface being cleaned.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning system which facilitates leaving additional moisture on the surface to be cleaned, when cleaning during nighttime, for example, to facilitate xe2x80x9cdeepxe2x80x9d cleaning of the surface to be cleaned while also providing a cleaning system which facilitates removing a maximum amount of moisture from the surface being cleaned, when cleaning during daytime, to adequately dry the surface and minimize the possibility of an individual slipping on the surface being cleaned following cleaning.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a wringing system which facilitates control overeat amount of liquid and/or debris removed from the cleaning pad to customize the cleaning efficiency of the system.